Scotland launches electronics design centre

Glasgow Uni goes even higher tech

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The University of Glasgow is smashing a champagne bottle off the side of a new electronics design centre today.

The £5m facility is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and has been designed to fill a gap in British electronics research. The university says it will be at the forefront of breakthroughs in drug development, communications systems and homeland security.

The centre is also getting backing from electronics firm Agilent. The company will be funding a swathe of research projects, but terms of the arrangement between the two organisations have not been disclosed.

The centre's professor, David Cumming, told us that the really exciting part of the deal was that the university was working with so many partners, both in academia and across industry.

"Agilent is one partner, but we're also working with National Semiconductor, Fujitsu, and Her Majesty's Government Communications Centre," he said.

He explained that the university already has extensive clean-room facilities, and the capacity to manufacture plenty of semiconductor kit, including complete 3-5 group circuits for micro and millimetre wave applications.

"Now we'll be doing design as well. We have the potential to make things, but we're a university, so it'll be on a prototype scale, not manufacturing. We'll be looking to do deals." ®